KDE 3.2 Alpha 1 Finally on FTP

I've finally managed to get the last bits of the KDE 3.2 Alpha 1 (codenamed "Brokenboring") including KDevelop 3.0 Alpha 6
on the ftp server. The mirrors should soon pick it up.

There won't be any binary packages for this release because the KDE "Pi"
release is coming out soon. Everyone using Brokenboring is asked to
compile it with --enable-debug, so that we can get valuable feedback. There is a new unstable version of Konstruct also available to install it.

Other than that, feel free to play around with things, check if your bugs
are still there or if there are places where you can help. Check
the KDE 3.2 feature plan
for things to look for.

The code is quite rough in many places, but many of the developers
use it on a daily base and kdepim has improved so much that you can't live without it once you've tried it. :)

Thanks to everyone who convinced me that the code is good enough for
a release when I was tempted to drop the idea altogether. Just one final wish: check
for duplicates before you file bug reports and compile with debug information enabled
before reporting crashes -- you might find tons of bugs, but with
debugging information the chances we can fix them are much higher.

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Comments

by TrulyFree (not verified)

That's because KDE is infected by the GPL, and you have to shell out money to develop a commercial application.

by ac (not verified)

Not true. You can develop commercial applications with open source licenses!

by Eric Laffoon (not verified)

I never cease to be amazed at how absurd some people can be. (I can see why they are anonymous though!) This guy can't even get his flame right. KDE's base libs are LGPL'd so that you can do commercial apps on it. The chant is supposed to be against Qt, and then don't forget RMS blessed the license so you may as well just admit you enjoy hating something and the something you've chosen is KDE and aren't you righteous.

Here's my two questions for people with at least enough intelligence to do the stupid flame the way their hate mongering leaders have tried to teach them. The complaint is for all those poor application developers who want to develop applications on Windows with Qt having to buy a license so they can make money off their software.
1) If you want your software for free, but then you want to turn around and make money off of it... why are you complaining about somebody else making money off of software when they're giving it to us to use for free? It is the sublime argument that all business is bad and this business is bad because it charges other businesses money which is unfair to the other businesses. Follow? (For the correct response see Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" and watch for "How to defend yourself against an attacker with a banana".)
2) Has anyone reciting this lame chant ever looked through a Programmers Paradise catalog? Because if they had done that and then played with MFC they'd realize how ridiculous they sound. You can spend way more on developer software than anything else!

Here's what's really ridiculous. These same people were angry at Qt for being QPL'd and wanted it GPL'd. Now that it's GPL'd we find that it's still not good enough for them. What would be good enough? If it went away.

Hey, TrulyFree(FromReality), grow up! The GPL protects me from having my work taken by a company and commercialized without giving me a dime while also allowing me to give it freely to people, even you. Attacking the GPL on the basis of freedom means never having to take your shoes off to count to your IQ. Go practice your rants and don't post again until you can get in lock step with the other trolls.

by manyoso (not verified)

LOL The best answer yet to these idiots parading the 'Qt is infected' meme... I know this hapless idiot couldn't even be bothered to stick with the Qt VS KDE script, but seriously, what a great answer Eric. Thanks!

by Eric Laffoon (not verified)

I know that handle... Hey, I'm glad I could make your day. ;-)

by Uwe Liebrenz (not verified)

... Nice comment ! But Trolls wont have that level of intelligence to understand what you said.

Think I should refer to your comment, whenever a new flame of QT vs KDE comes up !

by Anand (not verified)

Probably, that's because people who use KDE for serious stuff (I use at work, configure kde for our customers on x86, pSeries etc), have no interest/time to post 'kde is great, gnome is not' kind of messages on slashdot...

BTW, kde is no doubt amazing software Thanks developers!

by simul (not verified)

I write (documents, e-mails,...) in several languages (pt, br/us, fr) and for now it is still hard to change to the correct language (the one in the document) for spell checking.
I've seen in the 3.2 feature plan the following: "Easy language selection for spell checking".

Does this mean that I can default my language to Portuguese and easily do a spell check of a document in English or any other language? Or does this feature allready exist and I am being to dumb? (used to change it with the kedit preferences :-)

Thanks to all the team for the great job. It is really a pleasure to use KDE

by cartman (not verified)

now there is language selection combobox in spell check dialog. Thnx to Zack Rusin!

by Sho (not verified)

Thanks to all those developers who spent countless hours, mostly voluntarily, to make technology as excellent as the K Desktop Environment available for free - and complete with sources. Guys, you're doing a great and important job. For me, KDE is not only the desktop I enjoy working with the most, it's also a part of my personal freedom as it can't be taken away from me or modified without me knowing about it. Thanks to projects like Linux and KDE, I feel a bit safer nowadays - I basically can't be screwed by my software.

Gee suss, I have to donate more.

by Mario (not verified)

Also on another note, GNOME 2.4 was just released with many improvements http://www.gnome.org/start/2.4/.

Most improvements are usability, acessibility, and general polish, but there are also quite a few new features.

I am very impressed with GNOME 2.4's usability, now jsut about everything in the stock GNOME is HIG compliant and GNOME has the best documentation available on Linux thanks to SUN which constantly updates it. Come to think of it, GNOME's acessibility features and it's HIG is also thanks to SUN, SUN is pretty much the one responsible behind the great progress in usability, acessibility, documentation etc. that GNOME is making.

I really encourage KDE people to try it, not to switch, but so that we can have an idea of the competition and "borrow" good ideas like they "borrowed" from us, if nothing at least check out the awesome documentation and release notes, the best I've seen so far.

by Sho (not verified)

Sometimes I really wonder about your posts, Mario. You show up quite often when there's an important KDE announcement, like to make sure that someone reminds the readers that there's Gnome, too. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with what you're saying, in fact, I think Gnome makes a fine desktop and 2.4 is the best release yet - but I do doubt your motives. That I do. Anyway, let's not turn this into an argument.

by NewMandrakeUser (not verified)

I tried it today. To me, GNOME is a few years behind KDE. Literally. I am an ex GNOME user, but at some point (KDE 2.* series) the difference in favour of KDE became too big and switched. Anyways, nice trolling.

by Mario (not verified)

The two biggest, most popular and coolest Linux DE's release new versions after months of preparation on the same day! How could I not post about it!

I believe competition is healthy and that both projects can learna lot from each other, GNOME has some clear advantages to KDE in usability, acessibility and documentation, I wanted KDE contributors to know so that they could check it out and maybe help KDE catch up.

Overall, I think KDE is better than GNOME, and it is the desktop I use, but that does not mean I don't like GNOME or have some kind of rule that I can only say Pro KDE stuff.

by ac (not verified)

Did you post and advertize KDE on the GNOME site?

by fault (not verified)

He wasn't advertising GNOME at all. Pointing out that usability and accessibility is better in GNOME wasn't bad either. Might be a little offtopic, but not completely unexpected on this site. If you think that it is unexpected, you're a little bit naive :-)!

by ac (not verified)

Uh-huh. And does he point out all that is better in KDE on the GNOME site, complete with URLs to KDE.org?

by fault (not verified)

Was a brand new stable release of KDE just released? No.. thank you very much.

Quit your hating, nothing wrong with pointing out good things in other environments.

by Mario (not verified)

Yes, I did post KDE "advetisements" on gnomedesktop.org sometimes, for example

"Their new panel, movement of special menu applets, mini calendar for clock, SVG, post it notes desktop applet, have been in KDE for a while now. "

Not, quite as often, but only because I care about KDE more and I am more interested that people know it's weak spots, the first step to resolving a problem than if GNOME knows how KDE is better in this and this. I want KDE to continue being the #1 linux desktop.

by ac (not verified)

Ok good. :)

And I wasn't hating anyone despite fault's lies and slander!

by Henry (not verified)

Slander? That's non-sense.

In writing it's called libel.

Okay, I stole that from Spider-man.

by anon (not verified)

Are you sure GNOME has better documentation than KDE? There are a number of apps in GNOME that have extremely outdated documentation.. even Nautilus in 2.4rc1 does.

Sadly, docs in KDE are also very outdated. Both Doc projects are severely understaffed and is something non-developers can work on! :)

by Anonymous (not verified)

GNOME's User's Guide, Admin Guide and Accessibility Guide are very professional.

by John Hughes (not verified)

That's because they were written by Sun's proffessionally trained and (assumingly) well payed documentation writers.

by Olof (not verified)

The usability in KDE is _at least_ as good as in Gnome. You just have to make the sufficient settings. In this way, KDE is more flexible, has more options, and with the correct settings _will_ become more usable than Gnome.

This is a fact because usability can only be measured in a given work context, thus the possibility to adopt to that context is essential. Adopting is possible when flexibility is high. Simply removing features decreases flexibility and does not help increase usability.

by Olof (not verified)

I'll reply to myself here. Just to add an important point.

Usability _does not_ come right out of the box. It doesn't matter if big software companies wants us to believe so. It just doesn't work that way.

by Jeff Johnson (not verified)

That depends on the user. Many users do not even try to change the default configuration. For them easy-to-use and simple defaults are most important point, and they are also Gnome's main target group.

by Alex (not verified)

What is the "default configuration"?

Is it what the gnome team has in their packages? No.
Is it what a distribution includes? No.
Is it what comes installed, set and configured as part of a product and/or system? Yes.

by Jeff Johnson (not verified)

Obviously depends on where you get your system from. But yes, for home users and all people who try out KDE for the first time, either the KDE or the distributions defaults are essential for their first impression of KDE. And if they don't bother to reconfigure, also for their last.

by Olof (not verified)

> either the KDE or the distributions defaults are essential

You assume that the one who sets up a system at a workplace actually uses the defaults that these groups have "chosen". For home desktop users this will only be true if they buy a distribution separately and installs it. I argue, that in other cases, the ability to change (=flexibility) will decide how near you can come to the optimal usability for a user.

by Anonymous (not verified)

I agree that GNOME has its strongest points in accessibility, documentation and usability. Those are AFAIK the areas where SUN is most heavily involved by throwing in the most man power.

Usability is a topic where KDE is slowly but constantly improving (as man/women, who do the actual work after discussion, time permits). Accessibility is also on the focus with the new package kdeaccessibility and I have high hopes in the improved accessibility framework of the upcoming Qt 4.0. Finally documentation: This is where only you, the English-capable KDE users, can really help: http://i18n.kde.org/doc/gettingstarted.php

by Nobody (not verified)

Could there be some sort of gail replacement within the kde (kail? ;-) to get the same accessibilities as gnome to be able to integrate atk and at-spi without any dependencies with glib/gtk+?

What if that framework could be introduced through the freedesktop.org to the Qt-4.0?

by Daniel Molkentin (not verified)

ATK integration is work-in-progress for Qt 4.0, see the report about Qt 4.0.

Cheers,
Daniel

by Philippe Fremy (not verified)

<< GNOME is HIG compliant >>

So much fuss about this. KDE has been compliant to his HIG from the very beginning and has been a lot better to comply with it than Gnome ever was.

So Gnome finally reaching a level that KDE always had. I am not impressed.

Things like ATK are more interesting.

by Chris Spencer (not verified)

Assuming I actually believe your motives are genuine, I still don't agree. Not to start an anti-gnome war or anything, but every post I've ever made or read about KDE or something "non-GNOME" on gnomedestkop.org has been removed*, so I'm not exactly estatic to read about GNOME on a KDE web forum. If the avergage person used or cared about GNOME, then they would visit their webpage anyways. So your "Spreading the Word" posts are rather pointless.

*After emailing the moderator, he informed me that he's only removed 3 posts in his time of managing the forum. He told me that they're not being removed, but that some GNOME zealot(s) moderated them as trolling, and the default threashold of the forum is set to 1. So basically, moderating to 0 has the same effect of deleting a post.

by Ruediger Knoerig (not verified)

They're soo behind in their technology so there's no wonder why the german, chinese and japanese government have choosen KDE and only KDE as the base for their open source migration. No working application communication protocol (their CORBA-based stuff is simply a mess...), a stone-aged widged set (compared to KDE & Qt), incoherent user interfaces of the programs and so on. Do you know why they're praising HIG (Hide Incoherent GUI-Stuff)? 'cause they cannot build on a mighty framework which leads to consistency by itself.

by Adi (not verified)

KDE needs to try and get more donations, unlike GNOME it doesen't have sun to do half the work and pay the bills, it needs to encourage it's users to donate. GNOME even has a large donation suggestion on the front page.

Check it out: http://www.gnome.org
Also vote for this wishlist: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=63868

by Daniel Molkentin (not verified)

We already have means for people to support KDE:

- If you want to support hackfests or fairs which improve productivity drastically, donate to the KDE e.V.(http://www.kde.org/areas/kde-ev/) or become a supportive member.

- If you want to help the developers, have a look at the adopt-a-geek program (http://ktown.kde.org/~wheeler/adopt-a-geek/)

Cheers,
Daniel

by Adi (not verified)

I never said KDE does not have the means to allow people to donate, it's simply that the donation web page and many other things can be greately improved in order to encourage more donations and make it easier.

Please read the bug report to see what I mean.

by Trickster (not verified)

Guys, please don't take this the wrong way....

If I want to contribute to KDE, how do I know who / where my donation goes to? Is there a website or something explaining this? I *would* consider this in the same way I am considering joining MandrakeClub. I really think that all the developers of KDE / Open Source should be helped in whatever ways possible. If I had the know-how and time, I would certainly give it to the project(s). But until then, maybe a donation would do.

Thanks to all you guys who give up your own time to provide us with something so special....and for FREE!

by Anonymous (not verified)

If you donate money to the KDE e.V. association, you will not get accountability for it. That's the privilege and duty of the association members (deservered KDE developers/contributors). You can only be assured that it will be spent according to the objectives described in the bylaws.

by Waldo Bastian (not verified)

You can make donations to KDE via the following page:

http://www.kde.org/support/support.php

by Chris Spencer (not verified)

From my understanding ,SuSE and Mandrake, the number 1 and 2 Linux distros respectivly, contribute quite a nice ammount to KDE. I think Lindows contributes momey to KDE as well.

by Anonymous (not verified)

SuSE is a big supporter of KDE! They pay two developers to work on KDE and motivate their employees to do the same. They also co-sponsored the KDE developer conference and support KDE with booth computers on exhibitions where both KDE and SuSE attend. Mandrake used to support KDE with a paid developer but he was laid off due to financial problems. Lindows doesn't contribute money to KDE anymore, there is even talk that they are several months with payment behind for their half-sponsoring of kde-look.org.

What really is missing is cash in the hands of KDE e.V. to allow smaller expenses. I don't think there will be ever enough money that KDE e.V. will be able to pay a developer partly or full-time. I'm talking about the possibility to pay booth material, produce T-shits and CDs, legal costs or allow reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs when KDE representatives join desktop related conferences/meetings in US, Europe and elsewhere.

by Anonymous (not verified)

there is always a kde developper paid by Mandrake , they was 2 ( dfaure and lmontel )

by Charles de Miramon (not verified)

Laurent Montel is sponsored by Mandrake to work part time on KDE
David Faure is sponsored by Trolltech to work part time on KDE

by Chris Spencer (not verified)

Crap !! I meant 2nd and 3rd Linux distros, RedHat obviously being first. Doh !!

by Eric Laffoon (not verified)

Need and use for donations varies, but they are always useful and appreciated. Aside from what has been posted here for donating to KDE as an organization and "Adopt a geek" there are projects like Quanta Plus set up to take donations. In our case my business, Kitty Hooch, is listed as a sponsor of Andras Mantia to code full time on Quanta. In reality since we are a young business it's been difficult as it actually has eaten into our funds for growing our business at times, which is a shame. If I had the financial resources I'd spend more funding development. For this reason we are very appreciative of the help we receive from contributors. Ironically it seems to clump up around releases. Fortunately we have others helping with sponsorship commitments.

One thing we are hoping to do later this year is bring Andras to the US to meet with me so we can work on our own little hack fest and also on our long term objectives for advancing Quanta and web development on KDE. We can look for the cheapest airfare so hopefully it will not be that much but because of the slow economy in Oregon the only certain way to put this together is with donations.

There is good and bad news about donations to our project. The bad news is that only a very tiny fraction of a percent of our users ever donate and we can go a month with only one donation. The good news is that, when we see donation activity, our few contributors have been very generous and have made a BIG difference. I have no doubt that our users will help Andras and I to meet face to face very soon. I've sent personal thank yous on each contribution. Thanks again to all who have donated, or plan to donate to the Quanta project! One person can make a difference.

Listing KDE contributors including Kitty Hooch:
http://kde.org/support/thanks.php

For those wishing to donate to Quanta Plus or become a sponsor:
http://quanta.sourceforge.net/main1.php?actfile=donate

When you help out you become part of the success of the project, and we appreciate your efforts as much as you do ours. :-)

by a.c. (not verified)

Doeas anybody know if these donations are tax deductable in the US?

If so, if makes it much easier to get them.

by Adi (not verified)

They hould be. They are for most projects like GNOME and Mozilla.